


With Great Power... Comes So Much Drama

by A_Cold_Wind_Blows



Series: Spider-Arya [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Spider-Gwen (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, One Shot, Spider-Gwen AU, superhero au, was hit by a flight of fancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 09:32:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12578756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Cold_Wind_Blows/pseuds/A_Cold_Wind_Blows
Summary: Arya has been Spider-Woman for a few months now but it doesn't seem to be getting much easier.A.K.A. The Arya Stark superhero AU that I couldn't get out of my head this morning.





	With Great Power... Comes So Much Drama

"Arya honey, time to wake up for breakfast!"

"Blah."

Arya lifted her head off the pillow, confused for a moment when it seemed so dark, until she remembered that she fell asleep in the suit and the eye... things, or whatever they were called, were pulled over her cheek instead of her face. Pulling the mask off entirely with a quick yank, Arya's vision slowly un-blurred to reveal that her phone was going off with seven separate alerts. Two were alarm clocks, one was a calendar event reminding her to take her birth control last night, and the other four were timers she'd set during her fight with Shocker that she'd forgotten to turn off.

Also her battery was at 4%.

"No thank you," Arya groaned to the empty room. "I would like to return this day for a new one."

She nonetheless rolled out of bed straight onto the floor before pressing the symbol on her chest, deactivating the suit from "form-fitting mode" so she could take it off and stuff it into her backpack. She put on a new bra and underwear but otherwise just settled for some dirty jeans she found under her bed and a hoodie that was hanging off her bookcase. Slipping on a pair of Keds, she almost left her room before she realized that her web-shooters were still on her wrists. She quickly stuffed them into her hoodie pocket and took the stairs two at a time to the kitchen.

"Morning!" Arya said with as much chipper in her voice that she could manage on three hours of sleep.

Unfortunately Catelyn Stark was too smart for that.

"Honey, you look exhausted! Were you up all night?"

"Yeah, this new Calc class is really challenging, but I think I can manage at least a B if I work hard."

"That's funny, I walked by your room around 9 last night and you weren't in there."

Arya glared across the dining table at her sister, trying to communicate all of the fire and hell she would bring down on Sansa if she didn't shut up. Unfortunately the threat was ignored as Sansa focused on fixing her lip gloss with a feminine touch of her ring finger, eyes scrunched up n focus as she stared at herself in her phone's selfie camera. It was the kind of effortlessly attractive thing that Sansa always did. All the boys at school whispered about her being a huge tease who always flirted with boys and lead them on, but Arya knew that Sansa was just vain. She didn't even think about boys really unless she followed them on Instagram or something.

"Arya?" Mom was frowning as she placed a plate of hotcakes on the table. "Did you go out last night?"

"Whaaaaaat? Nooooo," Arya stalled. "I don't know what Sansa's talking about. I stayed in and studied all night. I have to be ready for the academic decathalon anyway."

"Jeyne Poole told me you quit the team last week," Sansa whispered just loud enough for their mom to hear.

"You quit the team?!"

Arya wished she was back in bed.

*****

"I think the eye-thingies-"

"The self-calibrating optic lenses keyed specifically to your spider-enhanced senses?"

"Right, right, those. They get like a weird chili smell when I use the telescoping mode sometimes."

"Do you eat chili with the mask still on?"

Arya looked up, or rather looked down, at Jon in his big leather swivel chair, his eyes looking tired yet brimming with energy behind his round-frame glasses. His glasses were the cleanest part about him as he lounged in his old bathrobe that he'd had since he was her age and went through his first growth spurt. He pushed back from his desk, littered with Monster energy drinks and pieces of silicate composites of different web shooter variations he was trying to create. The web balls and splitter-mode for her web shooters had been surprisingly helpful in fighting bad guys, so Arya had started letting him tinker with more ideas.

"Well, you told me the suit was self-cleaning," Arya said as she released her sticking power (that's how she thought of it anyway) and fell to the ground with a soft thump, her bare feet feeling cold on the concrete floor of Jon's dorm room. It was one of the few spots that was uncovered by various cheap rugs or Hot Cheeto debris. 

"I figured there was no harm-"

"Arya, please don't eat in the amazing technological marvel," Jon said with a slightly whiny tone. "I've only cracked like half of the programs that Mr. Forel put into this thing, and the self-cleaning mode wasn't one of them. I know it exists, just like I know there's an A.I. battle-assist-option, and an underwater-breathing mode, and even a self-repair function for the tracking spider drone on the chest. But until I figure out how to hack into those programs in the suit, you need to be more careful."

"You're smart though. I'm sure you've got it more figured out than you think." 

When Mr. Forel first gave her the suit, it didn't seem to do anything more than be a more convenient outfit for crime-fighting than her usual white hoodie with purple and black leggings that she'd been wearing when she first got her powers. Only Jon had been able to unlock all the cool tech inside that helped her time and time again. 

Jon just rubbed the bridge of his nose before chuckling. "Just please, be more careful. I can keep fixing and adjusting the suit as you like, but one day you or I might do something that breaks it in a way that can't be fixed. Then where will you be?"

Arya smiled. "Mr. Forel says the suit isn't important. It's the person wearing it. If you break the suit, I'll still be Spider-Woman."

"Well that's very nice, but don't come crying to me when you accidentally mess up the unstable molecule matrix or something and there's a big old picture of your butt hanging out the back going viral on Twitter."

"Whose butt is on Twitter?"

Jon and Arya spun around at the same time, Arya facing the door while Jon faced his computer, quickly brushing all of the equipment from Arya's suit into a general pile that he hid under the desk. Arya gave an awkward wave as Jon's roommate Sam walked in carrying his shower caddy, wrapped in a towel and a comfy black robe. When Arya first met Sam, he'd been shy and stammering and a little tiring to deal with, but overall Arya liked him. He was a true good guy, like Jon, though more of the history nerd bent than a tech geek like Jon and herself.

"Spider-Woman," Arya said in a flash. "Jon is wondering what her butt looks like, like some big old perv."

"Oh Jon, you know the news says Spider-Woman is probably a kid right?" Sam said with a little frown. "The survivors of that Midtown Wrecking Crew Attack all agree that she's probably like, 13 or something."

"What!?" Arya and Jon shouted, but for different reasons.

"I'm not a perv!"

"I'm not 13! I-I mean, Spider-Woman isn't 13. Not me either. Though why did I say anything about me?" Arya swallowed. "Jon is a perv though."

"Hey!"

Thankfully Sam just laughed and didn't ask more questions.

*****

Arya released her web-line and rolled into her landing on the community theater's roof. Shedding her backpack and mask off, she changed quickly into a pair of fancy grey slacks and a nice peach, ruffled button-down shirt that she stole from Sansa. It was a little big on her but Arya made it work by pulling it tight over her chest and tying the material into a knot above her lower back. Once she climbed down to the ground and saw the coast was clear, she slipped on the black short-heeled wedges that made her feel older and look taller.

"Edric, oh my god, the show was so great I can't believe it! No wait, that's too much." Arya broke the lock on the theater's back door with a quick jerk of her arm. "Maybe more like... wow! it was really well done! I didn't fall asleep once! No wait, maybe that would offend him. I should mention first about how handsome he looked in his costume... unless his costume was ugly..."

Slipping through a couple of custodian hallways, Arya made it to the main lobby just as the show was letting out, a mob of theater goers chattering about the show that just finished. Arya mixed herself into the crowd and waited by one of the doors, keeping an eye out for beautiful indigo eyes and long, thick lustrous blonde hair. Even if Edric wasn't an amazing, talented actor, and he totally was, Arya would have bet anything he was going to become successful one day. He was just such a tasty dish of a boy, so much so that people sometimes already assumed he was a model. Arya would have never had the confidence to even consider the idea of talking to him, let alone ask him out, pre-Spider bite.

Eventually the actors came out to excited cheers and claps as the cast began answering questions and even signing playbills, like a real Broadway show or something. Arya combed her fingers through her hair a few times, hoping she didn't smell too much like soot. It was Arya's experience that even after two or three showers, you couldn't get rid of that last bit of burning hospital smell from your hair.

When Arya spotted Edric, she almost instantly knew something was wrong. When she went in for a hug, Edric bristled at her approach.

"So when did you get here?" Edric asked, avoiding her eyes. It made her feel lonely even in this crowd of people.

"I-I was a little late but it was really great, you looked so... so good up there."

"Arya just stop."

"Stop what?"

"Look, I really, really like you okay? Like a lot. Like more than any girl I've ever met," Edric said, the most adorable little grin coming to his face before he wiped it away as quickly as he did all of Arya's hopes for the night. "So when you asked me out, I got really excited. And even when you flaked out on the concert last week, I was still cool. I just figured, you know, she made a mistake or something. But now it's like... it's like you don't even care."

"I do care!" Arya shouted before remembering they were in public.

"Well how am I supposed to know that?" Edric grimaced. "You-you act like you- I never see you anymore! When we were just friends, we would hang out all the time! Now it's like I barely know you. Honestly, things only got weird after you asked me out." 

"What are you saying?" Arya asked, already knowing the answer. No spider-sense required.

"I think I just- I want someone who wants to be with me, not someone who has to keep making excuses for ditching me. I get that enough at home and I don't need that from you."

"You're right," Arya said in a panic. "I am such a flake and you deserve so much better. I'm available now. Let's sit down after the show and talk and- no, you talk and I'll listen, I'll really listen."

"Arya..."

"Ned, I can't lose you, sometimes I feel like you're the last good thing in my life. Please give-"

Arya was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing. The ringtone was cartoonish yodeling over an 80's pop song that Jon had found. Usually the song was a sure-fire way of making Arya laugh but right now the sound of it made her nauseous. Because now Arya knew that the only reason Jon would call her, rather than Facebook message her or text her or use her suit's built-in memo device, was if it was an emergency of immediate importance, a.k.a. Spider-Woman stuff. Even though Arya hadn't moved to answer it, a shadow was already passing over Edric's face.

"Go ahead."

Arya mouthed an apology and whispered that this would just be a second before she answered, "Hello?"

"Some freaking sand guy is attacking a bunch of cops in Midtown! It's nuts! I think this needs the attention of a certain friendly neighbor-hood such and such!!" Jon's voice was panicked but he was keeping his calm and making sure not to say anything incriminating over this open line. "Seriously, Arya, I'm watching outside my window and I can already tell that this is definitely something that the cops won't be able to do on their own. People are going to get hurt."

Right as Arya was sure that she was going to cry, some small part of herself that had been getting louder and louder the longer she did this, shouted at her to stop. The voice said the same familiar words that haunted her every time she saw her mother staring wistfully at the empty sofa chair where their father used to sit and read the paper while she knitted. 

Ned Stark had been everything to Arya. He had been more than a just great father. He was the only person in the world who'd ever believed that she would one day become something more than just the lonely, loser screw-up she had always been, even without spider powers. And he'd made her brave in a way that she would always be grateful. Most importantly, he gave her the words that carried Arya through the darkness every day, no matter the super-villain, no matter the heartbreak, no matter the fear.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Unfortunately her father had never told her the costs of such responsibilities.

"I'm sorry Edric, I have to-"

But he'd already walked away. 

*****

"Die you bug freak!"

"Hey! That's MISS Bug Freak to you buster!"

The strange, glowing, molten-colored man tried to punch her again but to Arya he might as well have been moving in slow motion. The tricky part was that it seemed like no matter what she did, she couldn't hurt the guy through his thick, metal, glowing-hot skin. So they were at a bit of a stalemate. After doing a double-tuck flip back to dodge another weaving strike, Arya lept onto the top of a streetlamp, letting the HUD in her suit analyze any weaknesses this guy might have. Or at least tell her what his skin was his awesome metal skin was made of.

"You pick a supervillain name yet? I'm feeling Candle Man, but I'm willing to workshop. Suggestions?"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUUUT UUUUPPP!!!!"

Like a human volcano, the molten man's glowing skin went from gold, to yellow, to white hot before his arms exploded into giant bursts of energy that made Arya's eyes sting even with the protective lenses, so she lowered her hood a bit to try and shade her eyes. It was surprisingly effective, so Arya could see clearly as one of the explosive blasts struck the side of an old mechanic's shop. The wall blossomed like a flower into bits of brick and plaster, and even when the energy started to dissipate, and the supervillain in question seemed to be weakened by his own explosion, Arya's spider-sense buzzed at full force.

The reason became clear a moment later when an adjoining wall crumbled, making the shop look like a piece of cake with a big chunk bitten out of it. Arya glanced over at the now unconscious glowing guy, now no longer glowing, and webbed him up with a few shots before swinging over to the shop.

"Hey! Anyone in there!?"

"Yes! Help! I'm in here!" A low voice shouted, the sound coming faintly through dust clouds.

Arya was about to run in and grab the guy, when she heard a deafening sound that caused her to look up just in time as the roof started to collapse. Acting only on instinct, Arya put her palms up and caught the ceiling without too much struggle, until she felt other parts of the building piling up up and adding to the weight. Suddenly she felt a strain in her back and her arms. Which was strange and fascinating at first, but then very, very alarming a second later.

"Hey, the suit is giving me some strange readings. Are your arms alright-"

"Too busy Jon, talk later!" Arya ended the call. "Hey, whoever you are! If you're in here, you need to run to my voice, now!"

She had no idea if the person heard her, or even if they were still alive, but there was no choice. If there was any chance he was still alive, Arya would need to be here to keep the roof from collapsing on top of him. Her arms felt like jelly after a few minutes, her feet cramping from the weight. When the ground beneath her started cracking from the strain of all the weight she was carrying, Arya almost wanted to laugh at how freaking screwed she was. The worse part was that if she died here, the police would do an autopsy and find Spider-Woman's corpse wearing lame, laundry-day panda-bear panties.

Thankfully she spotted movement before her imminent death and acted quickly to shoot out a web line to grab the person by the chest and legs and pull him toward her. Catching a body that was flying at her chest was almost comforting in comparison to holding up a whole building, so Arya let the man land directly on top of her when they both cleared the destruction. They sat up at the same time and watched as the last of the roof collapsed, along with the other two walls, creating a spectacular sight of concrete and metal giving out like wet strudel.

Arya glanced behind her but the molten man was gone. Dammit.

"Holy Thor, it really is you." 

The man, although as Arya looked at him she realized that he was actually probably about Jon's age, was wearing a simple grey shirt and dark blue jeans, a tasteful belt buckle with a bull on the front completing his outfit. Of course, all of that was moot as the most prominent thing he was wearing was dust and debris, his face caked in black and grey smudges, yet somehow that only served to highlight how freaking blue his eyes were. Even though he was not exactly in top form at the moment, Arya couldn't help but stare at his hands, long thick fingers with just the smallest amount of hair that matched the dark, wiry covering that snaked out from under the collar of his quite, tight t-shirt.

"Wow, you're gorgeous..." Arya cooed without thinking.

"What?" The man coughed in alarm. 

"Er, I mean are you alright, er-sir?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so, thanks..."

The guy tried standing up but instantly he grimaced in pain and Arya saw why. His leg was bleeding, and as she as moved closer, Arya let the the suit do a medical analysis, her eyes passively taking in the information that the HUD was showing her. Silently Arya ignored that this put her face close to the man's pelvis area, where she could see very clearly the strip of skin between his jeans and shirt that hinted at abdominal muscles that she would have loved to get to know better in a different context.

"No broken bones, but it looks like a piece of metal got lodged into your thigh. EMT's will be here in less than four minutes, so you should be good."

"Thank you," The man said with a hand to her shoulder, and for a moment Arya Stark seemingly forgot that she was Spider-Woman, that she regularly swung from fifty-story heights to get to school, because logically that was the only explanation as to why she would suddenly in this moment realize that she was sweating a lot under her arms. Also her heart felt like it was trying to chisel its way out of her ribcage.

He really was quite handsome.

"Yes, well, just try and stay safe citizen," Arya said in her most impressive, professional super hero voice. "You are super fine."

"I'm what?" the man asked with a flirty smile that instantly made Arya's mouth feel like mush.

"No! I mean yes! I mean- you are fine, in the medical sense. I- I don't have an opinion on your looks," Arya babbled. "I mean I'm not, like, a robot, I do have an opinion, but it would be unprofessional of me to say it."

The man frowned for a moment before leaning forward, causing Arya to flinch back and catch his hand. She hadn't even noticed how close they were sitting to each other until just now.

"Christ, what are you, 12?"

"I-I'm 16," Arya said for no other reason than it was the truth.

"Really?" he laughed. "But you're just a tiny little thing..." As he said it, she felt the man reach up and cup her cheek, his thumb brushing lightly over her mask. Even through the complicated polymers of her suit, his touch felt amazing.

"Oh my- what's that Iron Man? You need my help?! I"m on my way!" Arya scrambled to her feet and backed away at a frantic clip, firing off a web line without looking so she could keep her eye on this handsome tempter and his strange handsome ways. "Avengers calling, you get it. Okay I gotta go bye don't tell anyone about this noonewouldbelieveyouanyway!"

As she swung up and away, trying to get her breathing under control, the last she heard was the man shouting something at her.

"My name is Gendry! Thanks Spider-Woman!"

*****

Arya carefully slid the window open with two fingers pressed to the top of the sill, creating a crack just large enough for her to slip in and close it behind her. She crawled up to the ceiling quickly but with methodical care, so as not to make any noise that might wake her mom. Arya managed to close her bedroom door with a slow push and then locked it with a quick web and a turn. Safely ensconced in the privacy of her own room, Arya dropped to the floor and pulled back her white hood. She tossed her backpack off of one shoulder and removed her mask. It was another night to crash in the suit it seemed like, considering her every muscle was on fire, and not just from strain. The molten guy had gripped her arms at one point and literally set her shoulder on fire.

Stumbling over to her bed, Arya let herself fall right onto her pillow, her hand shooting out at the moment of soft impact to switch the alarm clock to on. Her phone was dead so old-fashioned tech would have to do. Exhaling the day's stress, Arya opened her eyes to look up at her desk that was placed catty-corner to the rest of the room. Her chair that was usually covered in different hoodies and sweaters, looked especially messy, until Arya realized that it wasn't a pile of clothes she was seeing.

It was Sansa.

"Uh...."

"What the hell!? Oh my god! Oh my god!" Sansa had apparently been frozen this whole time, her hand in mid-motion with some lip balm, but slowly she woke from the shock. "You-you-you, oh my god Arya, you're Spider-Woman! You're Spider-Woman!! YOU'RE-"

In two jumps Arya was across the room, her hand over Sansa's mouth while she held a finger up to her lips in a shushing motion. Arya tried to mouth the word, "mom" but it was too late.

"Girls? Is everything alright? I thought I heard shouting."

Mom's voice was still soft, like she was only coming out of sleep, but Arya couldn't think of what to say. She felt so fried. And tired. Tired of the lying. Maybe it was time her family knew. Bran and Rickon were still at boarding school and Robb was working with S.H.I.E.L.D... but Sansa and mom might be fine. She hoped.

"Girls?"

Arya was shaken out of her thoughts when Sansa pulled her hand away. They stared at each other as if seeing each other for the first time. Arya didn't recognize the look Sansa was giving her, but she didn't look scared at least. Some people in New York thought Spider-Woman was a menace, and Arya often worried that Sansa and mom were some of those people.

Finally Sansa spoke.

"Everything's fine mom. I stubbed my toe, that's all."

"Is Arya home?"

Sansa seemed to consider something, biting her lip.

"Yeah, she's in bed asleep. I'm trying not to wake her."

"Okay then. Well you get some rest too..."

Mom's voice drifted away after that and soon Arya could hear the sounds of their mother's soft snoring. Surprised but elated at this turn of events, Arya decided not to press her any luck further, so she started backing away from her sister and sitting on the bed.

"Um... yeah, I'm Spider-Woman. Surprise."

Sansa gave a little gasp, but it quickly became a smile. It somehow made Arya smile too.

"Oh my god girl, tell. Me. Everything."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
